BRITAIN'S AIR HEROES

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 253, 23 February 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

BRITAIN'S AIR HEROES

ALLIES BEAR CORDIAL TESTIMONY

WHOLE HEARTED APPRECIATION

In tho two articles reproduced herewith testimony is home by our French and Russian Allies to the brilliant work of our airmen. Prom time to time \v e have had occasion to repeat the bald narratives of their doinga as supplied by the Press Bureau. (The French story refers to certain of these.) In these eulogies, however, tho bare bones are clothed with flesh. A feature of the French appreciation is tho mentioning of the aviators by name. Convention forbids this in any account originally published in Britain, but the French are wise in their time, and refuse to believe that it is possible to get furiously enthusiastic over the heroic doings of a letter in the alphabet eked out with a dash.

THE RUSSIAN VIEW,

aeroplane flew over the British lines and tried to attack a kite balloon. But it was driven off by the aerial patrol. Behind the actual front it is rare to sco a fight in the air over the British or tho French lines. 'J lie German aeroplanes no longer venture to pass their frontiers. The air fights mostly take placo over the German trenches, over their hangars and their railway junctions.

This article : .s by the London correspondent of the Bourse Gazette, Pctro"'"ln aviation the Bosches haw ceased to exist." This is the unanimous verdict of military experts. „- + -t, Uno need onlv stay at the British front one single day to be convinced that the verdict u right. The Allied aviators dominate the air. This is a phrase no longer. It is as much a reality as the British Battle Fleet or the Allied artillery. The Allied aeroplanes are everywhere. They guide and direct the arti'llerv fire, make hold reconnaissances, photograph the enemy positions before and after bombardment, fill the enemy trenches with grenades and combine with the. infantry to attack ihe German fortifications. During the first two months of the Somme offensive the British aviators covered more than 100,000 miles in the air, and that despite the tact that tor a whole fortnight there was no flying at all be-ause of the heavy mist and rain According to careful military statistics, the British airmen covered not less than a million miles over the German lines Hi the first two years of *ar.

A few weeks ago I visited the Royal Flying Corps institutions. When 1 saw there tho nunnber of pilots who arc being instructed, and all the enormous technical resources of British aviation, I understood that the aims which the British aviators have set before themselves pass far beyond tho limits of the secondary rolo ci '' the eyes of the arm v.''

THE FRENCH VERSION". Under the title of English Aviators— Who They Are and What They Do, the Matin recently published the following appreciative article —reference to which lias already 'been made in the Press — from which wo take the following quotations. The statements, however, should not lie accepted as authoritative or ott'eial, although from what we have heard of the heroic deeds of our flying men, wo see no reason to doubt their accuracy ; The English aviators are entrusted with tho samo mission as the French, 'lho same halo of brilliancy encircles them, they obtain the .same glorious results, and yet there is an indefinable something which distinguishes them from their French colleagues. What <e this elusive quality which enables one to distinguish the nationality of the aviator on merely hearing the details oi an aerial exploit? I think it"l 9 because our Allies carry on aerial warfaro in a more sporting than military spirit. They regard an encounter in tho air with their abhorred enemies as an exciting and thrilling experience. And they observe the rules of the game with stringent and knightly courtesy. This mode, of action, while permitting our Allies to obtain remarkable results, has also the inconvenience of augmenting their losses. The combat in the air is often unequal; the Englishman will not hesitate to attack singlehanded 10 or 12 Germans. He brings down several, but is often beaten himself in the long run by force of numbers. The English, with perfect loyalty, state in their official communiques the number of their aeroplanes which do not return to their base, hi September they lost 18 avious, brought down 53 enemy machines, and damaged about 100. The French during that month broiiKbt down 56, damaged 57, but their losses were verv much less.

THE STRUGGLE FOB. AIR SUPREMACY.

This history of the struggle for mastery in the air is very instructive. At the beginning of uie war the supremacy in aviation undoubtedly belonged to the British and French. But during the first year of the war the Germans, availing themselves of their superior industrial organisation, went ahead of the Allies. For a brief period l German aviation surpassed not only the British .and French aviation separately, but both combined. That period coincides with the appearance of the Fokkers and the activity of Inimelmaun and other German pilots. However, the Germans could not maintain their superiority. Towards tho end of the second year the supremacy passed to the Allies once more. By the quantity and quality of their machines, as well as by the quantity and quality of their pilots, the British and French now so much surpass the iiermans that at present one can speak •of the absolute superiority of the Allied aviators. It is not vet a complete domination of the air; but the British and the French do now possess an absolutely incontestable domination at the front. Tho Allied aviation ia div : ded into three separate branches of three kinds of fighting—the attacking battle-squad-ron, something like aerial cavalry; the scouts, rather like aerial infantry* and division of aerial photographers.

Tho pilots of the aerial battle-squad-ron are the real devils of the air. Host « fthem arc young, nd the lives of all of them are filled with unprecedented and terrible adventures.

DEEDS OF HEROISM. But marvellous are the deeds of heroism inscribed each day in the annals of tho Royal Flying Corps. I will cite a few of them.

Now they are provided with a new lighting machine. Its peculiarity is its extraordinary speed, its ability to climb almost vertically, and to descend in a few seconds. The machine is so stable that when he has climbed, the aviator can leave it to itself, and qu'ctly take his observations over the enemy or fire •from nis mahcine-gun. #' To get an idea of the speed of these machines it must suffice to say that when touching the ground in descent the machine continues to move at a speed of fully 6 miles an hour.

On August 11, during a reconnaissance in Egypt, an aeroplane was attacked by two enemy machines. A bullet broke the English pilot's jaw, another pierced his shoulder, a third iound a resting place in his left leg, and finally his left hand was also wounded. He fainted, regaining consciousness when only 150 metres aliovo the earth. He was over his own lines. Ho brought his machine safely to land, and then found that his observer was wounded in the chest and shoulder. W'th difficulty he made his report, fainted and died.

The scouts are much calmer in temperament. They report the resudts of the bombardment by wireless, giving within a few yards the exact'position of the hit made by each shell, fhey •often descend very low, especiallv when conveying troops to the attack.* They are truly the eyes of the Army, for "ihey report the movements in the trenches underground, which they sve from above, but which the attacking troops cannot see at all.

During a bombing mission Lieutenant Albert Ball noticed twenty enemy aeroplanes, divided into three groups. He advanced towards the first group, which contained seven machines, and fired on them at a distance of ten yards. The first German wavered, wheeled and fell. Ha then threw himself upon the others, firing two volleys at them. Tho first Bosche took fire and fell. Tho others attempted to escape, but our pilot immediately started in pursuit ami followed them'until he had discharged his last cartridge, one ol the enemy machines falling on a house in a village. Ball then returned for more munition, canio back to the charge, and attacked three more aeroplanes, which ho put out of action, then, having no more ipctrol, wa.-, obliged to return to his base with his machine disabled.

But of all the branches of aviation tho most important and the most aston siting is that of pbotogr.iphv from the aeroplane.

Before the bombardment of any ennmy position, the Headquarters make a detailed map, drawn up from photographs taken from the aeroplanes. Then whilo the bombardment is in progress the aviators continue to tako photographs of the position at fixed intervals Ihe bombardment continues until the photographs taken bv the av:ators show that all the points" d'appul of the position have taen demolished

Attacks on trains are very popular with tho R.F.C. In spite of the had weather I/eutenant Owen Tudor Boyd one day descended to within 3.",() metres m order to drop bom ha on a passing train. Lieutenant Gordon Kidd diC seonded from 2200 metres to 300 tor tho pleasure of dropping a bomb on n munition train, which caught fire and Mccked tho line with wreckage. Lieutenant Taylor derailed a troop train. Leutonant Gordon Gould, attacked during a reconnaissance, was wounded in tho leg. In spite of the interne pain he brought down one enemy machine .severely damaged another, "and then calmly continued his appointed work. Captain Gerald Dixon Spain one day observed four enemy machines. Me attacked three one after the other and put them to Bight, the fourth in tho meantime being engaged by another hnglishman. The following day he fought two enemies, brought one d'uvn forced the other to recede, continuing his successful career l. v again bringing down a Hoschc the next dav -leutenant Cope Kvans, during one Might, conquered four German machines, crashing them to earth. Among the many heroi.- exploits of "avn inspired the admiration of Kd<'ar our Allies there is one which would •««• An Knglishaeroplann was paring •MOO metres above German i,,rriiorv on reconnoitring bent, Suddenly a shell >"rst near it, killing the piio! instantly, severely damaging the machine but »»>* injuring t!,e observer, l.ieut llowe.v, 111 any way. The aeroplane turned nose downward, and fell 2'!00 vards H"wey during this terrific Ml performing a. veritable gymnastic f,. ; ,t, f|e J'" '••''■iled in slipping from his place to "at of his comrade, uiicln<,ped his dead ™- J . sat upon his knees, and, in spit.. '» "'» appalling situation, seized Hie contro-lever and in a miraeulu.s manner righted liis rniHiiiin j,, N ( ;l( ( | |( , moment it readied the earth after a veritable plunge lo death. Hmwv w.o* tM<en prisoner, but he was imin lured

J. saw these photographs and the maps of the German positions prepared trom them. The making of these photographic maps is one of tho greatest technical miracles of the present wir. TH K AVIATOH-['IIOTOf;RAPHER. Hut its realisation demands indomitable courage and sang-froid. Photogniphmg the, enemy positions is at once the most ingenious and the most dangerous of aerial operations. The aviator-photographer, } iar j n( , ,isen tn a great he.ght above the enemy position, settles his aeroplane almost vertically above the position hj,, is going to photo, graph. Descending a certain distance JIG arranges Iris camera, takes his photograph „f the German defences ami at onco climbs up at top speed in order to regain his own lines. One can "nißine with what a, fire the Germans meet then- uninvited visitor All the while his dizzy manoeuvre over (1, 0 German positions are going on 1,.. has to face the fire of anti-aircraft mins machine-guns. n itd rifles.

As I stood on a hill, flunir up .„ Ihoiißh by some terrible earthquake, or, wni_"h Fneourt had oner, stood I n»t'c«l a tiny spot in the <kv far a hove the Gorman lines, around wln'r-li small nh.tn clouds exploded. I a~kod mv of-Wr-eompanion if this was „ Relit ho. twoen aeroplane? in the air. ,: \ T o." |... said, "it's our man the ; crni,in positions, and the Germnns are hrmcr »f, him from the trendies " All day lons the British av : ators r " ~* throngj, the air. At certain when thev f |nsod together } count up to ;M aeroplanes. From be.ft-,r thev a,»,,r.„.d like a flight of —7"' mightv birds. Several of th-m *~"Jent.ly formed an aerial twtrol Tr-n----cir-M round t'.o !,;?,-. balloons 'IV other* flew away, singly or in -roups, ♦n the lnjf of fb,, Grn-nn trenehU '»'i'-n K tf-.o ivlw.V day only one single